It's been a couple of days since Elisa arrived at Los Alamos, and people seem to be getting used to her presence remarkably quickly. Kirika and Shirabe in particular seem to be quite happy to have a new wielder (and a new 'onee-san'); the three of them are in the bathroom, helping Elisa put on makeup, as those two have taken it upon themselves to give their new senpai a crash course in girlhood.

"So, you two are orphans, and you were taken in together by Mom, right, Kirika?" Elisa asks as she puts on some mascara. "Does that make you sisters?"
"Mom says we're not allowed to call ourselves sisters anymore."

Maria stares over at the bathroom and sighs. Those two really don't get it, huh...?

Inside Mom's office, Dr. Ver excitedly goes over all the printouts about Elisa. "Every test we do demonstrates her capability! We traded a broken Airgetlám for a natural wielder! Why, I couldn't have planned it better myself~"

"Yes, Doctor," Mom says, not even looking up from the printouts. "And I'm sure this is all merely a convenient coincidence?"

"Ugh. Please." Dr. Ver theatrically fans himself with the paper. "I'm sorry, what kind of idiot would plan for an unstable relic to be stolen by one of the children on the off chance she'd go attack Maria, know that it would be unstable or that she would attempt a Climax Song, just on the off chance there might be someone there who would possibly absorb shards of the relic and maybe fuse with it rather than just have a chunk of foreign material stuck somewhere inside their heart threatening their life? A relic that Daniel and I were researching how to repair, I might add."

"Hmmm, yes." Mom still doesn't look up. "And I assume that's why you never told us about the chunk of Airgetlám inside her?"

"Oh, like you would need to worry about that." Dr. Ver pouts and sighs, acting like he's about to faint. "Really, I didn't expect it to happen so soon. It took two years for Tachibana to present the fusion syndrome, after all -"

"Mom. Doctor."

Maria strides in, wearing some of her civilian clothes. She overheard the last chunk of conversation, and brushes her hair back, looking over the printouts.

"Maria. You still don't approve?" Mom finally looks Maria in the eye. "Our tests have come out very well, you know. She's adapting to the Symphogear quickly. We even had her accompany Kirika and Shirabe on the last Noise outbreak. Her capabilities are more than enough for our purposes."

Maria slams her hands down on Mom's desk and leans over her. Her dog tags jingle and hang down, accompanying her Symphogear pendant - marking her as a member of SYMGEACOM 1, the Banshee Unit 'Regenbogenlied'.

"That doesn't matter! She's a civilian! Not even a soldier! Now, maybe the Japanese are willing to use girls who haven't been trained in anything but 'food and food', but frankly I am against giving Elisa a full field commission until we give her a complete battery of aptitude tests."

Maria is against a lot more than that, of course. But she realizes she can't win against Mom without hard evidence.

"Maria, please, we've been giving her tests since she got here! If you're worried about her ability to wield a Symphogear, she passes with flying colors." Dr. Ver sighs. "She may not be as strong as you, but that's asking the impossible. Unless we find a third Gungnir, it's simply not happening."

"You're wrong, Doctor. There's more than that." Maria grins madly, baring her teeth, including her sharp canines. "You trained me, Mom. Taught me everything I know. You know as well as I do that there's more to being part of FIS than just wielding the Symphogear!"

"...I can't argue with that logic," Mom says, and sighs. "Very well. You have a week. If she passes all the tests, I'll let SOCOM give her that commission."

"Perfect." Maria's eyes get a bloodthirsty look, and she even licks her lips a little. "I'll prove that she's still ten thousand lightyears too early to challenge me!"

And so it was, that Maria challenged Elisa to a battery of stringent tests of her capability. Everything Maria was capable of, Elisa would have to match her - and Maria was capable of quite a lot.

But be it driving...

"I used to do track days at Calabogie!" Elisa yells, as she passes Maria's Miura Roadster in her GTS/4 on a perilous mountain road.

Or piloting military aircraft...

"Flight sims are really realistic these days!" says Elisa over her the radio, as she strafes a series of test targets strewn over the desert in an Air Force A-10C.

Or fitting in at a party for high society...

"This isn't actually the first time I've been on a date with an idol," Elisa says, dressed in a slinky red dress and twirling Maria in their dance, who scowls every time she isn't facing Elisa.

Or a no-holds-barred boxing match...

"Uh, I used to get into barfights?" says Elisa, right after she knocks Maria onto the ropes, Kirika and Shirabe running up to give her some water.

Or marksmanship...

"Airsoft!" Elisa says, happily firing a pair of Beretta 92s down range, one in each hand, each one a bullseye.

Or even a deadly sword duel beneath the Sakura petals and the moonlight...

"Uhm...fencing?" Elisa says, as their clashing blades upon the rooftop lead to Maria stumbling near the edge, dropping her sword and leaving her perilously hanging above the valley of the Rio Grande.

Elisa managed to keep up with Maria, each and every time.

Song of the Successors
Symphogear F
"An ancient relic and a melody to save the world!"

"...alright, fine, you win!" Maria yells, letting Elisa pull her up. Shakily leaning against her, Maria sighs, and mumbles, "Welcome to the Banshee Unit, Elisa."

"Happy to be here!" Elisa says, carefully separating herself from Maria once she's sure the idol can stand up straight. "Just, uh. Just one thing before I get my dog tags."

"Yeah?"

"...is now a bad time to mention that lightyears measure distance?"

Episode 5: The Girls Who Killed Adolescence

---

On the Nymphaeaceae, Miku wakes up fairly early into the day. Section Two doesn't run on strictly military protocol, being officially more akin to the Coast Guard, so not everyone has woken up yet.

Not having a change of clothes, Miku is instead wearing one of the provisional SONG uniforms. As she passes by some of the crew members on the boat, they salute to her...

It's a little awkward, really. She did agree to join, but it's still not totally formalized until they get a chance to test the Shénshòujìng. Even when the safe LiNKER is available, there's a chance it could still be too dangerous to use, or that they'll need to keep her in reserve rather than on the front line.

(Hibiki's probably been telling them all sorts of things, huh?)

For the moment, Miku goes into the lab to visit Dr. Kaplan, and see if Miku's awake.

"Oh hey, Mirai," says Dr. Kaplan.

"...Mirai?"

"That's how you'd usually read your name, right? 未来(Mirai)? Miku's a pretty uncommon reading."

...well, Dr. Kaplan is right, but is it really a good idea to let her choose strange nicknames?

"Tachibana's still sleeping beauty right now," says Yuina, the readouts of Hibiki's condition displayed on screen (though not Hibiki herself). "It's best not to disturb her just yet. One of the effects we've observed of the fusion syndrome is that she has to rest longer than the other wielders after using her Gear."

"I see..."

"Not trying to keep you apart, kid, but it is what it is. Why don't you go talk with some of the others? I'll let the Princess know where you're going."

"Mm...in that case, I think I'll give Chris a visit." Miku didn't really see a lot of her before she went into hiding with the others, so a chance to check up on her wouldn't be too bad. Especially after last night. "I might wander around a bit after that if Hibiki's not awake yet, though. Could you let me know?"

"Can do, kid," Dr. Kaplan says, saluting. "I'll tell you when the Princess is ready for her number one."

"...people keep doing that around me, it's weird."

"You'll get used to it. Those three 'valkyries' saved the world, sure, but you're the reason they're together in the first place. There'll always be a place for you in SONG, kid."

...yep. Hibiki has definitely been telling people things.

---

It wasn't terribly hard for Miku to figure out how to navigate the submarine, thankfully. It might raise some questions about the defense budget, but it's not laid out like a military ship at all. Besides which, the 'officer' quarters are all pretty close to one another, so it's mostly a case of going back where she started.

(It's big enough that it's a bit of a workout to go from one end to the other, though. Good thing Miku's been keeping up on her exercise.)

So for the moment, it's easy enough for Miku to find the door of the girl she met one night, alone, in that quaint little shopping arcade she and Hibiki loved so much...

"Who is it?"

"It's Miku. Can I come in?"

"...yeah. Just don't try any funny stuff like last night."

Yukine Chris.

Outlined in the clean room, with a small shrine in the corner and some mild creature comforts organized neatly in various places, Miku has the luxury to gaze on Chris' form sitting on the bottom bunk, legs pulled up against her chest.

She's already dressed in her uniform, her hair in a short bob with two long, wispy-looking tails streaming behind her. Her hair is a shade mixing silver and lavender, and her eyes are a beautiful pale purple. You'd never expect a girl like her to have the rough mouth she does, or to shy away from affection and friendship, but Miku knows damn well what she's been through.

Her body still bears the weight of her history. Perhaps the scars and bruises Fine inflicted on her back have healed by now, but the rest of her still shows what she's been through. Most of her weight seems to be in her chest, and the rest of her seems almost worryingly thin and short from past malnutrition; if Miku hadn't seen it with her own eyes, she'd never believe she could carry around massive miniguns like she does through the Symphogear.

But her delicate features, so much like snow, tell a story of a different time and place, and of careful attention paid by the one who took her as her own. No doubt a woman like Finé, who gladly strode around naked whenever she had the chance, would never tolerate scars or callouses she didn't inflict on Chris herself - the girl is almost unnaturally free of blemishes, her skin utterly smooth. Even now, Chris maintains an echo of Finé's vanity, despite everything.

(In a way, Miku can understand why she wanted Chris all to herself.)

During the Kadingir incident, it wasn't terribly hard for Miku to find more information on Chris after hearing her whole name. Chris is the daughter of Yukine Masanori, a violinist of some renown who had a whirlwind relationship and marriage with an American vocalist, Sonnet M. Yukine. The two were peace activists, and around eight years ago they visited the war-torn South American country of Val Verde, playing music for the people and encouraging mutual understanding.

It ended as all things seemed to in Val Verde: violence, and tragedy.

Chris wound up orphaned, kidnapped by the very people who killed her parents and forced to suffer indignities at the hands of adults. Two years ago she was recovered by the UN and repatriated to Japan, but the very same day Hibiki attended the tragic Zwei Wing concert, she disappeared from Japanese custody. Stolen away by Finé for her capability as a natural wielder, even as she sacrificed Amou Kanade (Tsubasa's former partner) as a pawn in her twisted game.

"...you can still say no, you know."

"No. I really can't. I don't have a choice -"

Chris rolls her eyes, and pulls her legs in tighter. "You always have a choice, Miku. This isn't Val Verde, and it isn't the White Orphanage either. You say no, what's the old man gonna do? Put on his puppy dog eyes? Hell, you might be the only person who can say no to Hibiki.

"So, think it over. You really wanna throw your life away like us?"

(In her heart, of course, Miku already knows the answer.)

"I could ask you the same question, you know," says Miku, as she steps in and shuts the door behind her.

"Tch. Typical. Just like the dummy." Chris sighs, and slumps into her knees. "I don't have a family, and you're the only friends I have outside of Val Verde. And it's not like I'm a slave or anything. I'm getting paid, I'm going to your excessively fancy private school, I have a say in how we do things around here.

"You're different, Miku, you know? You've got a family, and friends outside of this Symphogear shit. None of us would hate you for saying no. There'll be other relics, other candidates. And Hibiki could fight a whole army on her own. Don't just do this on a whim because you feel bad for us."

Miku could say no, probably.

It's not like part of her doesn't want to. There's something comforting, in Miku's eyes, about providing a warm meal and a soft bed for Hibiki to come home to. The respect Yuina said Section Two has for her wouldn't diminish on the sidelines. Even if she wanted to help out Section Two, there are other things she could do for Hibiki.

But...

it's not enough, is it?

Power is tantalizing. Strength. It's selfish, and Miku knows it. It's so much like the old Miku, the one before Hibiki brightened her life and showed her there was something more than being the best. The kind of person who was willing to be, even relished being, better than others, and putting them in their place.

Even so, she's certain Hibiki would understand. Seeing her in those lazy middle school days...

She was beautiful.

She was foolish, brilliant, and beautiful.

And with Gungnir in her heart, Hibiki shines all the brighter, a warrior of sunlight, and Miku wants to run by her side.

"Are you worried about me?" Miku says, as she steps closer, Chris moving to sit upright on the bed.

"...maybe a little."

...huh. It must be pretty bad if Chris is so straightforward about it.

"I do get scared, you know? If I fire enough bullets, you can't see it, but I do. The dummy is too stupid to die, and Tsubasa's got that whole Kazanari samurai self-sacrifice shit going on. If I ever ran out of bullets, I don't know what I'd do."

"Can a Symphogear run out of ammo?"

"Eh, good point." Chris finally pops up from the bed, getting up on her feet and walking to her shrine. There's a picture of her parents there, and she kneels down, gesturing for Miku to join her. "So, what's the real reason?"

"You didn't answer me," Miku says, clasping her hands together. "You first, yeah?"

"Mngh. It's...it's like a security blanket. So sue me, I don't feel safe without a Gear. So, take me away from it, and I'm all useless again, and have to rely on others for protection." Chris closes her eyes, and positions herself to pray. "If there's no God or Buddha, I can at least believe in Ichaival."

God?

Miku would like to hope there's a thing like God. Finé believed as much, at least. If humanity really could reach God, would that break the Curse?

...then again, anyone should know at this point that building towers to God is, historically, a pretty bad idea.

"...Finé believed in God," you point out.

"You really think so? I don't know if she did anymore." Chris shakes her head, staring at the photo on the shrine - her parents and herself, sometime before the tragedy in Val Verde. "Oh, if you asked her, she'd say so. But I don't know if she really believed it, or even remembered anymore.

"Six thousand years is a long, long time. You can live a long time with alchemy, she told me, but no one on the planet is as old as her." Chris growls a little. "I hate that she's still out there. That we don't know where she is. Dummy tried to reach her, but I don't think she can change her ways."

While Kazanari Tsubasa fought alone to defend Japan from the Special Disaster, and the American wielders of FIS fought Noise in the shadows, Chris was used by Finé to enact her plan to construct the Kadingir and eliminate everyone who got in the way. Ichaival was the backup plan, as Chris fought using the complete relic Nehushtan...perhaps, because it was easier to control Chris when she couldn't express herself in song.

That was the kind of relationship they had.

Finé promised Chris an end to war and suffering, and made Chris enact it on others under that promise - that everything they did would be worth it in the end, and any sacrifice was worth breaking the Curse. It was all a lie, of course...

but for someone who had lived through what Chris had, it would be easy to understand why she would cling to Finé so tightly.

The bruises and scars Miku saw on Chris' back, the first time they met, were Finé's own way of 'connecting' with her. Miku isn't sure if it would be worse if it were a lie, or if Finé meant it. And in the end, perhaps, the point is moot, because neither would be right.

(Even so, a possessiveness toward Chris...Miku can definitely understand it, despite everything.)

"You've changed a bit, though, haven't you?"

"Have I?" Miku thinks she has, but...that Chris noticed surprises her.

"Just remember, you can't treat me like the dummy. I'm delicate. Do things like that with her, at home!"

Ah, with that blush...it's the same as before, right? Chris is like that, around affection. And Hibiki, who hasn't had opportunities with skinship for Miku, has surely been holding Chris and Tsubasa's hands this whole time.

(Part of Miku wonders what it would be like, if Hibiki had enough hands to hold those of the entire world...)

So Miku just giggles, and looks over at Chris' red cheeks. "So, what do you want to do after all this, then? You won't have to keep fighting forever, you know. I think, it'll be important for us to have dreams for the future, for when all of this is over."

"...you still don't get it, do you."

(On the bridge, blurry, indistinct footage of the battle at Santa Fe on April 30th is watched by Genjuro and Ogawa, as Dana's Airgetlám fires beams into the crowd.)

"Asking a question like, 'what do you want to do after this' is naive in the first place. The Symphogear is something that's never existed before. It's a power that was once locked behind divine mystery and occultism, and now...now it can be mass produced."

(In the mess hall, many staff members, including Aoi, watch the news report about the smoking wreck of the Crosby Theatre, each of them knowing what an attack so close to Los Alamos meant.)

"The Sakurai Theory is designed to be mass produced. That's the whole point of Fine not relying on alchemy. It's a paradigm shift in the very idea of what humanity is capable of, how wars are fought, how people are influenced. It's the door to higher orders of existence we've only just been able to guess at."

(In the lab, as an assistant passes her coffee, Dr. Kaplan carefully watches Hibiki's vitals, a readout of the seven relics held collectively by the Japanese and Americans being compared to the resonance of the fusion syndrome patient.)

"Even Fine knew that - that what she'd spent thousands of years creating was about to slip out of her control. And did. The moment Hibiki fused with Gungnir, it was all over. Boom, the Symphogear is now beyond human comprehension. You get that now?"

(Inside the observation quarters, Hibiki rests peacefully...)

"You can't think of this like some ordinary war that'll end someday, like all this is just temporary. Custodian technology doesn't work like human stuff does, conceptual weapons can't be predicted or controlled. If you mass produce miracles, talking about 'an ordinary life' loses all meaning. I could tell you I want to be a singer, or a doctor, or to go back to Val Verde and help the few people there who actually gave a damn about me, but as long as the Symphogear exists and we're still fighting over it? All of that means jack and/or shit."

(and the scar on her chest shines brightly.)

"You walk into this forbidden door of possibility, Miku, and you're never coming back out. Follow Hibiki - follow Gungnir - and the world will never be the same again."

(The relic and the wielder are one and the same.)

"Heh.

"No wonder Fine kept trying to molest Hibiki."

"...what?" Miku looks over to Chris, startled, shaking in a quiet rage that someone would do that to her Hibiki.

"Oh, she never told you? Sounds like it. Honestly, I've never talked to her about it - I don't even think Hibiki realizes there was anything wrong with it in the first place." Chris opens her eyes, tipping her head and grinning with anger at Miku. "You wanna know? You really wanna know? Fine would gloat. She would gloat about the way she touched Hibiki. The way she talked to her. She would make me jealous, just to motivate me to hurt her all the harder.

"And it worked, you know? At least, it worked until I figured out she didn't need me anymore. It worked, until you and that dummy reminded me love isn't supposed to be made of electroshock torture."

...you remember.

Meeting Chris was a matter of coincidence, really. You weren't close enough to see her battles with Hibiki firsthand, so Chris was simply a stranger to you in that shopping arcade, that night - a time when you were fighting with Hibiki over keeping the Symphogear a secret from you.

Taking her to the basement of the okonomiyaki shop Flower, you observed her bruises, and continued pushing her toward the inevitable conclusion. That Finé's promise was a lie, and only by letting her song go free and fighting in her own way, for her own self, could she find the happiness she searched for.

It's the very reason that Chris can say all this right now, and move forward with her own song and her own purpose.

"Heh. But in the end, she couldn't deliver. You and I both know her - she's such a dummy that if Fine told her to jump, she'd have crashed into the moon before she could even think to ask 'how high'. I bet Fine was scared. I bet she was scared, about what would happen if she really hurt Hibiki, and Hibiki fought back. Because she knew she couldn't control her. As long as she's still fused with Gungnir, none of us can control her, not really.

"Except you. And even then, I'm not sure."

Their battles aren't over. They're still fighting. But as long as there are songs in the world, Miku is certain everything really will be okay.

(And somehow, Chris' words have only made her all the more certain.)

Miku has to be there. It's the only option left to her, and it's the only option she wants to take.

"Then why are you telling me I can say no?"

"Three words: ignorance is bliss."

"No. It really isn't. If it were, Fine would never have had to work so hard to keep us apart." Section Two used waivers, legal pressure, and financial assistance to keep people quiet about the Symphogear. It would've been much easier to just tell Miku about everything, and from what Miku understands, it was Dr. Sakurai who recommended they didn't. "I don't really have a choice, though. Not..." You look aside. "Not when it comes to the one I love."

It's...

strange saying it out loud.

But Miku feels like Chris will understand. And even if she did say it out loud to Hibiki, Miku couldn't know if she would understand she meant it that way, or that she deserves it, every little bit.

"I know what she was like, thinking she had to take all these burdens on herself alone. I can't let her fight like that, not again..."

"Heh. Not bad. But is it enough?"

No, it's not. Even Miku knows that. But...

she can't lie to Chris, can she?

"I want this. I want this, more than anything...ever since we met, I've wanted to run by her side. If she's fighting like this, am I really by her side if I'm just waiting for her to come home?"

"I'm not sure I can believe that." Chris shakes her head. "It doesn't fit my image of you, no offense."

"Maybe not." Miku shrugs. "You're wrong about one thing, though, Chris."

"Yeah?"

"...I can't say no to Hibiki, either."

"...yeah. Figures. The two of us really had to get close to a dummy like her, huh..."

---

Not long after Maria's 'aptitude tests', in a small briefing room set up in Los Alamos, Mom and Dr. Ver stand next to the holoscreen while Elisa and Maria sit at desks in front. Elisa's got her own dog tags to go with her tank top today, though her rank is the lowest of the four wielders of the Banshee Unit. Not that it really means much...

"To catch Elisa up, let's go over the situation." Mom holds the projector remote for the presentation. "'In light of the strategic need for collective security against Symphogear proliferation among rogue states, the United States will support its allies in the handling of heretical technology'...so the press release says, anyway."

"More likely," Maria adds, "the powers that be realized that if even the Canadians are going to perform sacrist development independently, then their previous policy of rejection of divine mystery will need to be more flexible if they actually want to achieve their security goals. Since the Symphogear is now relevant to national security, helping US allies only makes sense."

"Isn't that just what SONG is supposed to do?" Elisa asks. "Sounds more to me like the US wants back in on the 'leader of the free world' gig."

"Are you crazy? SONG is just a proxy for the Japanese government, and under control of the Kazanari Agency!" Dr. Ver flops back dramatically. "It's a terrible plan. At least we have some leverage against the President here at FIS..."

Elisa frowns. She's very skeptical about all this...

If the Symphogear was made to facilitate mutual understanding, thinks Elisa, why are we letting ourselves keep fighting over it?

She's so naive, thinks Maria. A peaceful world will never happen as long as the Symphogear exists.

"In light of this," says Mom, "FIS has been activated to protect the transportation of a crystallized relic, the Ar-éadbair, to the United Kingdom from Germany."

"The Ar-éadbair?" Elisa asks.

"One of the names of the Spear of Lugh," says Maria. "One of the Four Treasures of the Tuatha Dé Danann."

"Like Claíomh Solais, if you're keeping up." Dr. Ver chuckles. "American intelligence on the Dark Continent has been pretty flimsy since the Legacy was released, but NATO is a lot more cooperative now. Thus, allied intelligence has already reported attempted relic thefts across the continent, and some can't be confirmed as alchemic societies."

"You think the group behind Dana and the vampire chick are trying to find this group of relics in particular?" Elisa scratches her head. "What could they be trying to accomplish?"

"Who knows? Dr. Sakurai's notes don't say anything about such an ability as the Unison that Kirika and Shirabe use. It's entirely possible it's nothing but superstition on the part of their benefactors. Or, of course, it's possible none of this is actually connected...but you really don't get far in heretical technology studies without figuring out when to follow a hunch."

"We haven't spotted Dana again," says Mom. "Nor have we identified the wielder of Claíomh Solais, or confirmed further appearances of its Aufwachen waveform. In light of this, we're going to expect up to two enemy wielders may appear."

"May appear," Maria adds. "They might just back off if they know we're there, especially with Gungnir."

"And the kids are on Noise response duty." There hasn't been a Noise outbreak lately, but Elisa figures that's only a matter of time. "Makes sense. Could be a pretty easy job, and they may only have the one wielder, even if LiNKER isn't an issue."

Both FIS and Section Two have different operational jurisdictions, based on secret treaties. Since relics were treated more like humanitarian aid, military rivalries didn't really apply, but geographical and historical concerns still meant it was usually one or the other.

Even so, Elisa can't help but think Mom's holding them back to keep Kirika and Shirabe away from fighting other humans as long as possible.

"There's one thing I don't get, though. How do the Germans have it? Is it just a codename?"

"Finé didn't always get into the extensive history. But we've been able to fill in the gaps. You can think of them like the Japanese Imperial Regalia, Elisa."

Elisa nods to Dr. Ver. "Right, all of those are complete relics."

Maria sighs to herself. "At the end of World War II, Japan was allowed to keep them as part of MacArthur's negotiations, so long as they cooperated with FIS' predecessors. It's that which lies at the root of our prior cooperation with Section Two. The relics were never used because they were considered too valuable to create Symphogears with. We should be grateful the Kazanari Agency never figured out how to use them to aid Japan's war effort..."

"Indeed, good ladies." Dr. Ver bows theatrically. "Only the Lia Fáil passed into the possession of the Irish Free State of the four relics of Ireland, and only because it's physically stuck there. The Abwehr claimed the Ar-éadbair whole for Nazi Germany's occult societies, but the alchemists crystallized it in their experiments - an accidental application of the Sakurai Theory before its time. Until a couple weeks ago, the relic was believed lost; the German government claimed it before the local alchemists did, fortunately."

"So they accidentally created something compatible with the Symphogear system," says Elisa. "And now they're giving it back to the British? Germany is a member of NATO too, can't they use it?"

"Germany's government is adopting a hardline policy against the alchemist societies operating within its borders," Mom says, "which previously went largely unknown until the Legacy brought them to light. Even if they wanted to use it, they likely consider even having it within their borders a liability."

"Alright, I get it. The British are less skittish, and they love taking shit that belongs to other countries." Elisa leans back and sighs, looking up to the ceiling. "So, what's the job?"

"Simple escort. A decoy plane will transport a fake to be announced to the public, while the Banshee Unit - specifically, the two of you - accompanies the train transporting the real relic across Europe." Mom shows the map - from Berlin to London across the European high speed rail network, through the Channel Tunnel...

wait.

"Mom, that's a passenger train route." Elisa sits up straight, checking the map to be sure. "We're transporting the relic across a continent like we're going on a holiday to London?!"

Mom grunts a little, a pained expression on her face. "...the Joint Chiefs of Staff have decided this is an 'acceptable risk'. Freight trains are slow, and occult societies have a certain distaste for direct attacks on civilians. It's believed our mystery group will fall for the decoy."

"And if they don't?"

Mom says nothing.

"...I can't believe this. We're using people as human shields now?!" Elisa growls, tossing her head. "Fucking generals. Dana was willing to kill all of us just to get the Airgetlám, and the vampire chick slaughtered every last soldier at CFS Carp to the man. You really think they're going to hesitate to attack a train?"

"It makes perfect tactical sense," Maria says, glaring at Elisa. "We'll have the full support of the CIA and BND, and the logistics of attacking a passenger train will give us plenty of chances to catch them before they can get there, if they're willing to make an attempt at all, if they're capable of doing so, and if they don't fall for the decoy."

"And you're okay with this? Maria, you can't be serious."

"Of course I'm not okay with it! But I'm not even okay with being a tool for the American government to begin with! The only reason we're still here is to be able to use the Symphogear!"

"...yeah. I guess that goes for me, too." Elisa shakes her head, waving her silver arm around. "If we aren't there, then people will die. But I don't like this one bit."

---

Maria's got some business with Mom and Dr. Ver, so Elisa is the first one out. She may not like it, but she's got orders, and, well...

honestly, getting to spend some time alone with Maria in Berlin isn't too bad. Nor is her new cover identity as her bodyguard. It's just...

god, really? It's like the Cold War all over again -

"...Miss Metea."

Oh, hey. It's that Asian guy. The deputy head researcher, who does all the grunt work for Dr. Ver. Daniel...something or other - oh, Okuda! Right. Apparently he was one of the Receptor Children too, and they trained a bunch as scientists.

Real wunderkind, apparently. He invented the cloaking system the Air Carrier was using before the Shenshoujing was stolen, and has been pulling double duty on all of FIS' research projects, giving them a big boost over the Japanese. Not quite Dr. Sakurai, at least, but definitely someone worth making friends with.

"Hey, we haven't met yet, right?" Elisa grins, and extends her silver arm. "We keep missing each other for some reason. Unfortunately, I don't have too long until my flight, but I have a bit of time before then if you wanna chat. I bet Kirika and Shirabe have been saying all kinds of stuff about me."

"...not really," he says. Jeez, guy is pretty shy, huh? Ah well, it's to be expected - these kids have all had it rough. "I just had one question for you." He hesitantly reaches for Elisa's hand, and shakes it gently, examining it with violet eyes.

"Sure, no problem. Honestly, I'm shocked you haven't been asking me more questions. Dr. Ver says you understand the Sakurai Theory better than he does at this point."

"It's nothing like that. I just..." He looks aside a little. "How do you feel? With the fusion syndrome, I mean. Everything you've been through, with the relic and FIS and all."

That's...well, that's a question.

Elisa has been in more dubious situations than she can count. Some of her own design, others ones she was thrown into. Love triangles, battles for the heart, 'odd jobs' from the mundane to the farcical. Who's to believe she got involved with aspiring idols on reality TV, let alone all the stuff she pulled with Maria's aptitude test?

It's been scary, sometimes. She's fucked up a lot; even she can admit, with the benefit of hindsight, that she wasn't the (wo)man Rebeka needed. But she's left a lot of people behind. And people have left her behind, too. Even her best friend left her behind in the end.

Or maybe none of that's true.

Rebeka, among others, used to accuse her of telling tall tales just to sound more interesting. And honestly, Elisa's been doing this so long even she's not sure it's all true anymore.

So why does this one feel okay?

Why is she so okay with being tossed into a black ops agency occupied, and now mostly run, by kidnapped children?

But you understand, don't you?

"...Miss Metea?" Daniel asks. "Are you alright?"

It's because you couldn't reach others, and they couldn't reach you.

"Sorry, I think I'm spacing out a little." Elisa rubs her forehead and sighs. "Being the new big sister to half the Orphanage is a tough job on top of everything else."

"...I wouldn't know," says Daniel, pushing his glasses up over his violet eyes. Honestly, he's pretty pale - must not get much sun down in R&D. Weird guy...

The only way you can break the Curse of Balal is with the Symphogear!

It would be nice, huh? Because otherwise, Elisa really has no idea what Daniel's thinking.

"I mean, Maria said outright. It's not like you could change me back if you wanted to. Even if I left the White Orphanage, I'm stuck with the Airgetlám either way. I don't think I could accept just running away knowing I'm capable of fighting the Noise. If I had the choice..."

If you had the choice, you'd do it. Because it's the right thing to do...

"If you had the choice, huh."

And because it's what you wanted, more than anything.

(What I wanted... Elisa thinks.)

"I guess putting it like that is pretty unhelpful." Elisa shakes her head, and gestures for Daniel to follow her to the green room. The two walk down the white halls, Elisa waving at the younger kids and Daniel getting respectful glances from the local 'Build Team'. "But while I'm on the subject, I hear you're the reason we have half decent cups of joe around here."

"We didn't have a lot of creature comforts before the White Orphanage came under new management." Huh, guy's got some snark in him, even if it's soft-spoken. Guess the shy bit isn't everything. "While our discretionary budget has been slashed since the Legacy became public, it's still more than enough to give the Receptor Children, and our few allies, a comfortable life here."

Elisa settles into a shady corner of the break room, while Daniel works with the espresso machines. (She tries not to think about how it might be worth more than her mom's student loans, assuming Daniel didn't build it himself.) "Did you learn everything from Dr. Ver and Dr. Sakurai?"

"My great uncle taught me a few things before I got picked up," Daniel says, not turning away from the machine. "Not counting the things I picked up myself ten years ago."

"Ten years..." Elisa heard an offhand mention Daniel was from San Francisco; she's pretty sure Finé picked up a bunch of kids when the Big One hit.

"You're dodging the question."

"...shit, that obvious, huh?"

"I've read your dossier. You're good at dodging responsibilities." Jeez, Daniel's all blunt all of a sudden. "Of course, I knew that you were capable where Maria didn't, but she's always had a blind spot. Just ask Dana."

"Dana?" Elisa blinks. So they were friends before all this, huh? Makes her jealousy understandable, but jeez, does a girl really gotta escalate to murder to resolve that?

You can't break the Curse without power. Even you know that.

"It's a reasonable question to ask," Daniel continues. "Why now? Why here? You had people waiting for you back home. What is it that you wish for?"

(For some reason, Elisa can't help but feel like Daniel is getting more confident...)

"...it's like this, right?" she says, looking at her arm. "It was terrifying, you know? I'd made my last mistake. It was a pretty stupid idea, but what was the chance something like that would happen twice?"

Daniel seemed to calm down a bit, and made his espresso pulls. Better than Elisa could do it, anyway. "You tried to sneak into CFS Carp, I remember. Americano?"

"Please. It's exhilarating, though, you know? I'm not just looking at things from afar and wishing I could be there, I'm really there!" As Daniel places Elisa's coffee down, she readily grabs some cream packets and sugar (and fortunately doesn't notice Daniel's raised eyebrow). "I grew up watching anime, and admiring idols like Maria, Tsubasa, and Kanade. I guess admiring the Symphogears is just another part of that.

"Of course it's scary. I know I'm going to need to fight Noise, and even other people. But even if I can't forgive her for hurting people, or being willing to kill Maria over it, I can understand why she wanted the power of the Symphogear so badly. Who wouldn't want this?"

"Who wouldn't..." Daniel looks down at his own cups of espresso.

"Now I'm not just looking at them from afar. I'm not just telling myself, 'hey, wouldn't it be amazing if?'. I'm not just a fan of the Symphogears anymore. I'm really part of that world. In an ideal world, any 'guy' like me should have the chance to join the world they admire.

"And honestly? It's pretty fun. Hanging out with Kirika and Shirabe and the rest of the kids is like having a bunch of new family members. We're building a home here for everyone after well over a decade of the bullshit Finé put them all through. It's me, I'm the big sister, I'm the heroine, I'm the idol, I'm the Symphogear!"

Elisa was manic, in how she expressed it. Passionate. Alive. She lit up, so easily, as she might only have before when talking about those idols of hers, the things she loved but thought she could never touch.

And if that might elicit a certain profound reaction in her new friend...

"Elicchi! Mom says she needs you for a few pre-flight checks before you get ready to go to Berlin."

She might have been a little too distracted to notice.

"Ten minutes, Kirika!" Elisa yells back, as she hurriedly dumps three quarters of a cup of coffee into her mouth sloppily and swallowing down. "Sorry 'bout that, Daniel. Hope we get a chance to chat again soon, yeah?"

"Yeah..."

Elisa quickly gives a final wave with her arm - her Airgetlám, her relic - and rushes off to prepare for her trip. And in that lonely, austere white break room...

...

...

...to operate at complete orgone efficiency requires the maintenance of a bounded field around the human body, for within the Annunaki is a Dirac sea, within which exists an energy that manifests the laws of physics in a matter similar to human consciousness, mutable by consciousness...

Daniel is left to his thoughts.

---

Not far from the Spree River, in front of the west side of the Brandenburg Gate, a woman stands tall, a stick hanging from her mouth as she waits for her counterpart from the east.

It's a cool, brisk day in Berlin, and the overcast clouds give something of a more literal interpretation of the nickname of Europe among the FIS, the 'Dark Continent'.

Elisa has dressed for the occasion. She's got a brand new jacket to replace the old, but this one isn't an oversized bomber jacket covered in patches - it's a tight, well-tailored wraparound leather riding jacket with firm collar straps. Both hands are covered in black gloves, and skinny jeans fit her long legs well; as part of her cover of the bodyguard of a prominent international celebrity, she's got her two Berettas on each hip.

And right on cue, arrives a woman from the east side, through the Brandenburg Gate. Wrapped in a long jacket and scarf, she's got a babushka and large sunglasses, only small tufts of pink hair poking through betraying her identity as she approaches Elisa.

Her new 'bodyguard' pops the lollipop out of her mouth and smiles at the disguised celebrity. "Ah, yes, it's my counterpart from the other side of the Iron Curtain!" she says, in an obnoxiously fake British accent. "I didn't realize the spies of the Eastern Bloc were so beautiful."

"...what?"

"...well, you know, I just thought it was funny," says Elisa. "I'm standing on the west side, you're standing on the east side..."

"I really don't think it's that funny," says Maria, scoffing. "There are still people fighting over East and West."

"Yeah, but it's, y'know..." Elisa starts walking, and Maria quickly follows. As they cross the street, they walk over a plaque that says 'tear down this wall!'. "Haven't you ever seen a spy movie before?"

"I never had time for games in the White Orphanage."

"Really? I mean, Kirika and Shirabe have, I know some of the other kids, too. You've really never seen a spy movie before?"

"No."

"So you've never seen James Bond?"
"No."
"Jason Bourne?"
"No."
"Golgo 13?"
"No."
"...Austin Powers?"
"No!"

The two pass by and through historic Berlin, where a wall once stood between East and West. Walking around the Reichstag, they end up along the Spree River, as the two make (rather stained) small talk.

Reunification, it could be said, was a sign of mutual understanding...but the end of the Cold War wasn't the end of history, no matter what some liked to believe.

Maria knew this firsthand. She was born in 2022, and she and her sister were war orphans in the internecine conflicts of the eastern Dark Continent - proxy battles for alchemists.

When Dr. Sakurai and Mom found her, she didn't need to be kidnapped to leave it all behind. It was easy enough to volunteer, to try and guarantee some measure of security, even as a prisoner in the White Orphanage.

Maria wonders, sometimes. If she made the right decision. She has the power of the Symphogear, but her sister lost her life to the living relic, the Nephilim...

and here Elisa is, wearing her sister's silver arm, seemingly oblivious to all of it.

Eventually, the two of them end up heading into the Berlin TV Tower, trying to keep up appearances as tourists rather than spies, hoping to throw some of their enemies off their trail as Mom instructed. Fortunately, Maria's disguise holds well enough.

And so they sit down in the revolving restaurant, a waitress with big turquoise twintails leaving menus for them as they enjoy some complimentary brunch coffee. Maria takes hers black, while Elisa gleefully loads her down.

"Enjoying your time in Berlin?" the waitress asks.

"So far," Maria says, diplomatically. "Could I have the vegan breakfast?"

"Sure, sure." The waitress takes notes dutifully. "And you, ma'am?"

"...'pancake burger'? This, I gotta see. So one of those, please."

"Ahah, a good choice. I'll let you two have some alone time while we prepare it~"

Maria sighs and grumbles a little, but she relents. Better they see a couple than a celebrity on the run.

Elisa, on the other hand, is stating out at the city in the distance, right where it used to be divided into East and West.

"Hey, Maria, just look at the view. I can't believe this city used to be split between two different countries..."

As Maria takes a glance at the two halves of Berlin, Elisa realizes this is really the first time they've actually had a chance to be alone. Maria's been pretty busy, after all. Elisa doesn't really know that much about her...

Is she really this cold? Or is she just nervous, talking to a person who bears her sister's old relic?

Better to break the tension then, Elisa thinks. "Have you been to Berlin before?" she asks.

"A couple of times," Maria says, diplomatically. "On my first international tour, and to fight Noise."

"Ah, that's right, you started your career not long after Zwei Wing." Elisa heard from the Build Team that it was a direct response to the situation with Kanade and Tsubasa, though FIS kept its private wielders a closely guarded secret from Japan. "Do you enjoy it?"

"Eh?"

"I mean, like...is it just a cover for you?" Elisa sloppily drinks a bit more of her coffee. "Mmm. I mean, I know I was just a fanboy back then, but I'm not silly enough to think you're the same person I saw on stage, you know?"

"Of course I enjoy it. Or I used to, anyway." Maria frowns a little down at Berlin. "I don't think I'll be performing again anytime soon. There's still so much we have to do before we can have the stability needed to maintain my cover like that."

"I hope you'll keep recording, at least."

...she doesn't understand, does she? Maria thinks. I'm not singing for her, or for anyone else. I'm singing for myself. That's all it was, really...

"I'll need to find a new producer first," she says, after a moment.

"Really? It's not Dr. Ver?"

"No! God no." Maria's face curls up in disgust briefly. "It was Dana, actually. Or rather, she helped transcribe from the Symphogear, as much as she produced my own songs."

"That would be pretty tricky otherwise..." The instrumentation is generated by the Symphogear itself, so separating it all out and being able to rerecord it is a pretty tough job, Elisa thinks. "Were you two close, then? Trusting someone like that with your songs is a big ask."

"..."

Maria looks aside, and doesn't answer.

Which tells Elisa all she needs to know, really.

"So!" Elisa rapidly attempts to change the subject, as she usually does in awkward moments with women. "Uh, do you know any other good restaurants in Berlin?"

"Not especially. I've only briefly stopped here, and not for leisure."

"What about Kirika and Shirabe?"

Maria sighs, and slowly runs her finger around the rim of her coffee cup. "They have a lot more latitude. I think Dr. Sakurai had a soft spot for them. I know Mom did."

...this isn't getting any less awkward, is it.

"...of course, if it's me, it's my job and my duty," Maria adds. "Aren't you worried about your family?"

"Mmm. I actually told them I'd be gone a while before I went to scope out the Diefenbunker," Elisa says, using CFS Carp's old nickname. "I figured I'd stay in Carp a couple of weeks, get more info, enjoy a bit of rural hospitality on the side. So it's fine! Uh, probably."

"You're reckless," says Maria.

"Hey, I can't be that reckless. You know how much the security deposit on that snowmobile cost?"

"More or less than your insurance premiums?"

"Urk..." Elisa winces. Right where it hurts, huh. "Look, neither of those accidents were my fault. And I came out of them completely unscathed!"

"What about your motorcycles?"

"...good point."

"This is what I mean," Maria growls through her teeth. "You're dumb and you're reckless."

"I mean, I'm pretty sure you can't be smart and reckless."

"I don't want to babysit you -"

"Oh, and how are you two lovebirds doing~?"

Elisa and Maria look over to the twintailed waitress, happily holding up a tray stacked with food. Not exactly the best timing for either of them, huh.

"Here." The waitress lays down the plates without waiting for an answer, mercifully freeing them from having to explain. Maria's plate is a balanced, healthy, and tasty array of vegan-friendly fruits, vegetables, spreads, and grains - with only a small indulgence in the form of some kind of coffee-flavored smoothie. Elisa's, meanwhile, is two pancakes loosely sandwiching a massive pile of smoked salmon, fried egg, cream cheese, and pretty much anything else you probably shouldn't be eating before a long train ride to London. "I do hope you'll enjoy your stay here in Berlin..." The waitress whispers, only loud enough for Elisa to hear as well. "Ma~ ri~ a~"

"!" Maria tenses up, but tries not to panic. She is a celebrity, after all - it's not that unusual for a celebrity to be seen in disguise, especially not on what could easily appear to outsiders as a date. A good cover is resilient and layered, so she just has to remember this bubbly bluenette waitress is probably just a fan or a gossip.

"Don't worry, I'll keep your little secret! You see a lot of famous musicians come and go here. Why, I remember having an absolutely lovely time with David Bowie here once...ah, but that'd be on the other side of the wall. Was nice to be pinned against it though." The waitress chuckles at her own joke. "You might end up writing a few new songs about your -"

"Bodyguard," Elisa says, firmly. "Just a bodyguard."

"Ah, strictly professional then! Up to you, really." The waitress laughs - it's infectiously charming. "Enjoy your meal~"

Maria lets go of the breath she held in once the waitress "David Bowie?" she asks, after a moment, examining her food.

"She's just kidding. David Bowie spent some time here in the 1970s, that's all. I think she was flirting?"

"I'm surprised she still has a job in that case." Maria briefly sips her smoothie. "...thanks, though."

"Eh, no problem." Elisa flashes a V-sign. "I'm not here to cause a scandal for America's top idol, you know?"

Hm. Maria grabs her fork and knife and digs in on some of her meal, considering the matter as Elisa downs the rest of her coffee. She's clearly not grasping the gravity of the situation, and she's too willing to go through life in a carefree way even with the Airgetlám, and she generally lacks delicacy, but maybe, when it comes to the kinds of socializing Maria absolutely can't stand, she might be a bit okay? Maybe? Just a bit -

(and then Elisa grabs her so-called 'burger' in two hands, most of it slopping out back onto the plate as she utterly devours it with no sense of taste or tact like it's a fast-food sausage roll.)

...never mind.

---

A few hours later, the two have boarded the train to London, and are already underway. The relic is safely placed out of reach, so they've been told.

Maria sighs and stares out the window. Mercifully, in the seat across from hers, Elisa has succumbed to jet lag; her earbuds are in, drowning out the noise of the high speed train cruising the European countryside.

How can people talk so long about nothing? Maria has never been good at such things. Elisa, it seems, could talk about anything for as long as she wanted. It's no wonder Kirika and Shirabe get along with her.

As she places her hand upon the window, against the quiet background of chatter and machinery, Maria's thoughts are her own...a feeling she's been familiar with, for a long, long time.

Maria's parents, after all, died so long ago she doesn't even remember their names. Her childhood was a haze of wandering between foster parents, refugee camps, seeking asylum alongside her sister. Compared to someone like Elisa, who's surely never had a day a snowcone couldn't fix before she got involved with the Symphogears, it's the kind of life that would make almost anything seem preferable. Any hope, no matter how thin, would be enough to tempt her...

and so it was, that Dr. Ryoko Sakurai came into her life.

An intensely beautiful and intelligent woman who could make almost anything seem palatable, who could twist just about anyone around her fingers, Maria can still feel the cold sickness in her stomach when she remembers she once admired the woman who was Finé. Even wanted to be like her.

Elisa can't understand. Despite the harshness, the pain, the competition, the Receptor Children are still following her tune. Trapped within want. Plenty of kids who had a chance to leave chose to stay, because what they found there was more family than what they'd known before.

(Maybe that's why Maria is so angry at Dana - that, perhaps, Dana was able to reject the White Orphanage, while she still...)

Dr. Sakurai's true nature was obvious in hindsight. The manipulation, the doublethink - it's hard to even know what Finé truly believed in the first place. To fight for mutual understanding through the medium of pain and lies, and to claim such things are beautiful...

but it's obvious, isn't it?

She spent all this effort putting together the Receptor Children, and favored only those who had compatibility with the relics at hand. Then she discarded them for someone more useful, who didn't need LiNKER - and then she discarded her to pursue a human fused with a relic, abusing her power over others and throwing them when they no longer suit her, like a child outgrowing her toys.

How utterly sickening.

Maybe, once, thousands of years ago, there was a part of Finé who desired exactly what she said she did. A Finé who truly believed in mutual understanding, and the power of song. Maybe there was a time she wasn't a hypocrite.

But it's hard to imagine such a Finé existing -

"Hey. Maria."

"Oh..." Maria turns to Elisa, who has seemingly woken up from her nap, holding a bottle of water out for her. "Ah, thank you," she says.

"No problem. You okay?"

"...bad memories." Maria sighs, and chugs down a bit of the water. At least Elisa isn't asking for clarification - if there's anything Maria's learned about 'normal' people over the past decade or two, it's that they could never possibly understand the depths of her emotions, even if she pours them into song.

"Really? I figured you'd be all about these covert missions. Sneaking into high security facilities, slipping into tight airvents with your tight rubber catsuit..."

"You can't be serious," Maria scoffs.

"This time, yes, I'm kidding." Elisa laughs, and swigs down some water of her own. "Mm. It's too bad we can't get a decent glass of wine or something. At least it's only a few hours."

"Thankfully. We should have plenty of warning, with the SOCOM's finest and the US Marshals keeping watch on the sacrist."

"I'd still feel a lot more comfortable if we were watching it ourselves," says Elisa. "You know, I'm starting to get the sense the Joint Chiefs of Staff don't like us very much."

"Mom says it's less conspicuous this way. I get the sense she's just following orders though -"

Elisa pokes her head out to the aisle, and Maria looks over, seeing a stewardess approaching with a big trolley. Maria quickly double-checks that her disguise holds up, as Elisa flags her down.

"Bonjour, honored guests," she says as she approaches. She's a tall woman, nearly as tall as Elisa. Long blue hair, pale complexion, and...

big blue aviator glasses? With gold rims? Weird. She looks an awful lot like Elisa's former buddy Dastravi, she thinks - ah, jeez, what the hell is Eli gonna tell him?

"Oui, bonjour mes amis! Welcome to Belgium! We'll be passing through the south of this beautiful country, so please enjoy the view on our way to the Channel Tunnel." The woman's English is flawless, though Elisa thinks it sounds a bit familiar... "Would you like anything?"

"Just a coffee, for me - with a shot of espresso." The moment Elisa says it, the stewardess with the sunglasses is already well on her way to making it, the complicated robotic trolley pouring the coffee into a small cup under her guidance. "Hey, you wouldn't happen to be Canadian, would you?"

"Ah, really? Most people don't notice the accent, they just all think I'm American." The stewardess chuckles, lowering her aviators to reveal glittering green eyes. "Yes, I grew up in Canada. I'm more of a 'citizen of the world' these days, though. And you, madam?"

"Café liégeois," Maria says simply. She's a bit wary after that waitress before. "And two shots of espresso."

"A fine choice, but I'm afraid I'll need a bit to prepare that for you. Just let me tell the kitchen about it and we'll have your dessert in no time. Bon voyage!" The stewardess pushes her sunglasses back up and waves a little after placing Elisa's coffee down, then wanders off to serve the next customers.

"...so America's top idol has a sweet tooth, huh?" Elisa quips.

"Shut up." Maria grumbles slightly. "A woman is allowed her indulgences, no? Even you should understand that."

"Technically, I haven't had as much practice as you have." Elisa sips her coffee, and 'mm's in approval. "You know, this is the first time I've been in business class?"

"A small comfort, that's all. If we were in first class, more chance of the tabloids showing up." Maria sighs, and looks back out the window. Belgium, huh...

Maria has been so many places, but she's never had time to enjoy them. She's not really sure what 'enjoying' is honestly like. Maybe Mom wanted her to let her hair down, so to speak...

"She looks kinda familiar to me," Elisa says after a few moments, sipping on her coffee. "The stewardess, I mean."

"I saw your dossier," says Maria, not looking away from the window. "Your roommate wore glasses like that, and had blue hair too."

"No, that's not what I mean." Elisa taps her gloved fingers on the mug, which make a faint tinkling sound from the contact with the silver arm. "I could've sworn I've seen her somewhere before."

"Canada is a big country. You're probably just having deja vu."

"No, I don't think it's that. Maybe I saw her in the news or something -"

In the middle of her sentence, without any warning, Elisa sits up straight, and turns to look toward the stewardess serving people behind her...

and once she moves into the next car, Elisa stands up and starts chasing after her without a word.

"Hey, wait!" Maria stands up and tugs at Elisa's arm, but Elisa doesn't stop. "What is it?"

"Around six years ago," Elisa whispers as she creeps along, following the stewardess who starts making comments about needing to refill her cart, "there was this scandal among one of the big business families in Canada. The oldest daughter of the de L'Impératrice family made a bunch of public statements airing some dirty laundry and abandoned her ties. She was attending the Royal Military College Saint-Jean at the time - and I heard she was quite promising, too."

"Elisa -"

"The attack on CFS Carp started inside the facility. The vampire chick already got in there by the time FIS knew about it. There's no way she could have pulled that off without someone on the inside."

"Elisa, wait -"

"Whoever's backing them...we already know they had people inside the American intelligence services. It makes sense for their MO -"

"Elisa!"

Maria grabs tightly and flips Elisa around, pinning her to a train door that shut behind them as they chased the Canadian down.

"Alright, fine! Let's say you are right about this!" Maria's utterly furious, and would surely be yelling if she weren't forcing her voice to a harsh whisper. "They already know our faces, Eli! Don't you think if she approached us so openly, she might already know who we are? Don't you think this might, maybe, just maybe, end up being a fucking trap?"

"How very perceptive of you!"

On instinct, Elisa and Maria both dive behind some of the seats in business class, in a train car that is now conspicuously empty. Gunshots rain over their head as the two of them draw their own sidearms, and fire blindly over the seats, forcing their opponent to take cover herself.

"I didn't think you'd be this easy to catch!" the Canadian yells. "Guess your new partner is pretty hotheaded, huh, Maria?"

"Like hell!" Maria fires off down the hall. "What are you doing gloating before you've even killed us?!"

"Give it up, Maxine," Elisa says, recalling the name from the newspaper back then. "There's two of us and only one of you!"

"Yes, it is quite a pickle, isn't it..."

Elisa and Maria peek over the seats, and in the distance is a jingling, sparkling pink crystal pendant dangling from Maxine de L'Impératrice's hand.

Well, fuck.

"Unfortunately for you, I've already achieved my objective! I just wanted to gloat, you know?" Maxine peeks out and winks from behind her sunglasses, hiding back behind just before a bullet grazes past. "I want to see how your Symphogears will fare against a real soldier!"

Elisa and Maria may be at odds right now, but they both agree about one thing: this entire operation has been a disaster.

"Maria, she's outnumbered, we can take her," Elisa whispers.

"Tch. They'll have another one before long."

"Better we take her out first, then! If we can capture her, we can figure out who's behind all this!"

None of them have a choice in the matter. Guns will only work as long as none of them transforms, so when all three of them pop out of cover, they clutch their Gears tightly...

balwisyall nescell Airgetlám tron
zeios jenius Ar-éadbair tron
granzizel bilfen Gungnir zizzl

and prepare to wage battle with their song.



KORT EL FES GUNGNIR
KORT EL FES GUNGNIR


Maria Cadenzavna Eve
(CV: Yōko Hikasa)
Ressō Gungnir

Maria spreads her arms wide, her relic's symphony blaring as her disguise flies off, hair flaring out as the Black Gungnir envelops her. Black gloves coat her hands, quickly joined by powerful engines resembling the chambers of a revolver.

Black high boots join daring stockings resembling lingerie, engines clinging to her thighs and wings attaching to her tailbone, quickly joined by her flourishing black cape. Her headset springs to life, joined by two wicked horns following the curve of her hair, a confident smirk as she spins and flourishes, her annoyance and hesitance completely melted away by the thrill of being reshaped by the Symphogear.

After all, there are two times in life when Maria feels truly alive.

When she's on stage, singing her heart out for the adoring crowd with the feelings that pour out from her heart...

and when she's in battle, wielding the Gungnir, her strength to face hardship, the power that marks her as the greatest of the Receptor Children.

In that instant, the three of them emerge from their relics all at once. Maxine's Gear is a rich blue halfway between cobalt and sky, marked with white stripes that remind Elisa of an aerobatics team's livery. She has no skirt, instead her Gear resembling nothing less than flared bell bottom pants, various vernier rockets and bulges with hidden weapons over her body and her backpack, rounded armor over her arms.

Her sunglasses, though, are still there - and now flicker and flash with combat data, the former soldier licking her lips and waiting for her opponents to make the first move.

Maria doesn't hesitate. She flourishes her cape, her Armed Gear appearing and charging energy...

HORIZON†SPE-

But before Maria can fire, Elisa grabs her arm and lowers her spear. "Maria! This isn't the end of the train! There could be people back there! Didn't you just say not to be reckless?!"

"Heh." Maxine pops open the door behind her with her security pass, and climbs out easily - atop a train traveling through the Belgian countryside a steady three hundred kilometres an hour.

"She's getting away!" Maria yells, and Elisa growls in frustration, reaching back with her heel and kicking the door to the next car open. The two of them quickly jump out and leap atop the train, kept upon it only by the strength of their Gears.

(How dare Elisa hold Maria back like that. Does she think their enemies will have mercy!?)

"So, who's it going to be first? I hope you remember your physics lessons - though, one of you flunked out of those classes, didn't she?" Maxine winks behind her sunglasses, and brings her hand forward, gesturing for one of her opponents to 'come at me'. Rather confident for someone outnumbered...

"You're really trying to piss me off, huh?!" Elisa yells - but it's Maria who strikes first. Rockets blaring from her rear, cape controlling her movement, her heels scrape over the empty train car as she pushes forth with her spear.

PAINS†THRUST

Kono mune ni yadotta shinnen no hi wa
Dare mo kesu koto wa dekiyashinai eigō no bureizu

In Maxine's hands, she forms not a spear, but a three-sectioned staff, with which she uses its flexibility to block and knock away Maria's blows. Even with Maria's raw power, Maxine's combat experience is clearly enough to be able to intuitively use the talents of her Gear.

Ima tatoe kono mi wo yakitsukusō to
Shinzu waga michi no tame nara ten ni natte mo ii

It takes a moment for Elisa to attempt her own strike, as Maria leaps back, Elisa extending her arm in that single moment -

ＶＩＯＬＡＴＯＲ

but Maxine is able to strike back, too.

🅑🅞🅡🅓🅔🅡🅛🅘🅝🅔

Yami ni madō yoru ni wa uta wo tomosō ka

Tiny needle-like lances extend from the end of her gauntlet, the mass knocking Elisa's whip back and forcing them onto the defensive, Maria spinning her spear to deflect the incoming attacks and Elisa raising her arm to deflect the projectiles in turn.

Seikō no serenāde chikara yo yadore

Maxine must realize she needs to close in - her backpack lets her charge forward, and Maria leaps over her to keep Maxine in a pincer maneuver. This forces Elisa to face her head-on, as Maxine's staff flashes and roars out, blocked by Elisa's whip as the two Canadians start clashing.

"You're pretty good," Maxine says, grinning as she gets almost close enough to kiss Elisa. "Better than I was expecting, even. It's a shame the boss keeps calling you a 'fake Symphogear', isn't it?"

"Don't talk to me like we're old friends!" Elisa yells, practically spitting in Maxine's face, kneeing the new wielder in the stomach and grabbing Maxine's staff with her silver arm. "You straight-up betrayed your country for power!"

"What, the country that helped steal that relic you're using as an arm? Don't tell me they didn't teach you about the real reason they invaded the Middle East, little girl!"

"Then what about your friends? Your comrades? How many people did you get killed when you defected to that vampire maniac's side?!"

"Ah, ah, now that would be telling~" Maxine chuckles, her eyes flicking behind for a brief moment as Maria charges energy into her spear. "Speaking of which..."

Coire Dagda granzizel tron

"I think we've reached our last stop! Thank you for travelling with us, but now it's time for you to die!"

A flaming streak emerges from the sky, a supersonic aircraft streaking from high above and quickly receding past the horizon. Maria hears her falling and aims her spear, chastising herself for being so easily tricked - but the shot goes wide, and with a loud battle cry, that streak of silver and blue crashes into Elisa, forcing her body onto the next train and hitting Elisa with a vast, flaming clockwork hammer, flourishes of frizzy black curls blowing back in the wind.

𝓛𝓸𝓻𝓮𝓷𝓽𝔃 𝓕𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮

"...sorry I'm late to the party," the new wielder says. Her outfit is even more different than Maxine's - clockwork and frills and petticoats and a Victorian monstrosity of a weapon, a bizarre contrast to the shiny high-tech Symphogear inner suit. She's even got a tiny little top hat! Elisa would recognize the dark-skinned girl anywhere, her visage burned into her memory of that day in Santa Fe...

Zettai ni yuzurenai yume ga hoe sakebu yo

"Dana Haughton! What a great surprise. Maria has been telling me all about you!" With both sides now evenly matched, and the entire train now a valid battlefield - announcements and warnings going on inside, but the operators unable to stop the hacked train despite the obvious panic growing inside - Maria and Elisa now fight their opponents one on one, to try and stem the threat of their rivals and their mysterious backers against a passenger train carrying hundreds of people from all over Europe.

Seigi no tame ni aku wo tsuranuke

"You're getting awfully familiar with me, you know!" Dana says, as she tries out various variations on her Armed Gear. Fancy flintlock pistols and massive hand cannons might be easily deflected by Elisa's energy shield, but once Dana figures out that she'll need to go in with her hammer again...

Namida nado iranai musō no hitofuri yo
Kakugo wo ima kamaetara hokori to chigire

"Oh? Seems like you love this ride so much, Maria, you don't wanna get off!" Spear clashes against staff as Maxine's aviators flicker with data. "At this rate, we'll be fighting in London! Imagine all the cameras~"

Maria spits in Maxine's face. She's managing to hold the line against her opponent, but it's much closer than she would normally expect. Not quite as tough as Kazanari, but who is?

Maxine is good, Maria thinks. Even if she's inexperienced with her Gear, she's got military training. Just who is our enemy?

On the other side of the train, Elisa continues deflecting shots with her arm's energy field as Dana continues to test her defenses. "I didn't get a good look at you when we met before! You're a lot cuter up close," Elisa says, trying to think fast.

"Are you hitting on me? I'm trying to kill you, you know!" Dana merges her cannons together into one big cannon held in front of her, and pulls the string...

𝓓𝓮𝓪𝓭𝓵𝔂 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓽𝓸𝓷

BOOM! One gigantic explosive shell fires from her artillery!

"Well, nobody's perfect!" Elisa yells, as the cannon blast disintegrates against her shield! But it's a lot of energy just to keep up...and just as she thought, Dana flourishes, and the cannon transforms back into her hammer! She starts to kneel down, the rocket-hammer flaring with exhaust as she charges her blow...

It's no good. Elisa's whip isn't her finishing move! She'll have to finish it in just one blow, but how...

Ta ga tame ni kono koe nariwataru no ka?
Soshite ta ga tame ni kono uta wa areba ī ka?

The Airgetlám swirls with energy inside. That energy...yes! The Airgetlám itself can be used as an Armed Gear! If Elisa can get into point-blank range, then...how did it go, again?

This hand of mine glows with an awesome power! Its burning grip tells me to defeat you!

Elisa rushes in, her arm venting energy and glowing as she reaches out, just as Dana comes down with her hammer swing...

Mō nani mo ushinau mono ka to kimeta…

Bakunetsu...

ＨＡＮＤ ＯＦ ＧＯＤ

God! FINGER!

Omoi wo kasaneta kiseki yo sadame wo kechirase

and Elisa's hand explodes as the two of them make contact at the same time in a burst of orange and blue explosions and energies!

"...heh."

Kodō utsu inochitachi tatakau sono se ni

But it doesn't work...or rather, the mutual explosive force is somehow negated and instead Dana is tossed back and flies through the air!

Kadentsa no aru ga mama tabane yo ai wo

"Don't you know your laws of motion, Elisa?!" Dana yells, as she does a flip with her hammer and aims right for Maria!

"That's -" Maria is kicked aside and Maxine disengages, as Dana lands on her new opponent, pinning her down and crushing the roof of the empty train car! How did she do that trick with Elisa?! Reversing the kinetic and explosive energies of their blows...can the Coire Dagda manipulate kinetic energy?

Zettai ni makerarenai tatakai ga aru no da
Sekai yo utae… ashita wo uta e

"It's payback-time, 'Maria-sama!'" Dana yells, as Maxine rushes in with her rockets, holding out her staff like a lance and pushing Elisa onto one of the occupied train cars again!

🅐🅡🅡🅞🅦 🅞🅕 🅕🅐🅣🅔

Yagate shiru mirai wa sennengo mo kawarazu

"Maria was a lovely dance partner, we'll have to do that again sometime!" Maxine licks her lips, the energy in Elisa's arm flickering from the previous strike. The Airgetlám is still unstable, using an attack like that has consequences..."As for you, dearest Elisa, you're ten thousand lightyears too early to challenge me!"

Yoake no...

Grunting and groaning, Elisa doesn't bother with the whip this time - instead going right for a flying kick! "Lightyears...measure...distance!"

hikari no sora e...

"No one likes a pedant, dear~" Maxine says as she dodges to the side, Elisa's heel crashing right into the roof of the empty train car!

mina ni sachiare...

Maria is a fair bit more evenly matched with her opponent. She may not have an energy shield, but she doesn't need fancy gimmicks to win - just power! "You betrayed us, Dana! I trusted you! Why throw all that away for this?"

"Says the woman who flaunts her Symphogear!" Dana seems determined to fight Maria in melee, despite the disadvantage - as if to show her strength. "In my position, you'd have done the same fucking thing!"

"You're wrong! Can't you hear my song? As long as I have a reason to fight, you can never defeat my Gungnir!"

"There you are again! It's always your Gungnir! You don't care about anyone else but yourself! Not me, not even your fans!"

Yatto kidzuitanda yatto wakattanda
Sei aru akashi wo utau kono mi sasagete

The two Receptor Children have smouldering eyes as they fight, hammer to spear. Their faces come close enough to kiss, the two of them growling and gritting their teeth. Even at a distance, Elisa can see just what kind of resentment the two hold, and what they had before...

"The curtain call has come, Elisa. Look at you - you can't even control your own Gear! You've been living a low-effort life; you'll never live up to Maria like that~" Maxine laughs, and steps on Elisa's throat.

"Tch..." Elisa's arm flickers blue from the cracks as it tries to regain control over its energy. She won't have enough to do much...she just needs to keep Maria from being outnumbered, if she can...

"So, here's the deal." The panels on Maxine's 'backpack' open up, revealing what seems like countless spears. "You let us go, and I don't kill everyone on board these trains and cause a derailing incident which will, no doubt, cause even more collateral damage. Or you don't let us go, and you'll have so much blood on your hands your arm will start to go red instead of blue. So, what's it going to be, E~ li~ sa~?"

Elisa has enough energy...she can do it! She can still fight! But more importantly, she can try to save the train! High speed multiple units like these have explosive bolts to separate the cars in case of incidents; with her whip, if Maria is able to do the other side, Elisa can separate them!

"Don't listen!" Maria yells from behind Dana. "She's bluffing! She kills all the passengers, the whole world is going to want their heads! We defeat them here, we can stop them and keep them from taking these relics!"

"Heh. Do you really want to risk that, Elisa? Our ride is arriving shortly, so please do be quick about it! After all, there's hundreds of lives on the line!"

...you know, Elisa is really starting to hate this woman.

But if Maria is right, then this is a perfect chance. Elisa's instincts are screaming to save the passengers first, but if she's wrong...

Guess it's time to roll the dice.

"No? Going to play games with human lives? That's fine. This is what I was trained for, after all." Maxine steps away, assured that Elisa is nearly out of energy. But Elisa has just enough for one more attack. It may not be a Shining Finger, but sometimes a special attack...

ＳＥＮＳＥ ＯＦ ＬＩＢＥＲＴＹ

can be as simple as a kick!

Elisa wrenches her leg from the train roof, tearing off metal and plastic as her leg pulses with energy, the sharp pointed heel and mass forcing Maxine into the air!

"Don't fuck with me!" Elisa yells, before chastising herself for not having enough time to think of a better line.

"Maxine -" Dana turns to assist, but that only gives Maria a chance to knock her back. Maria rushes forward, with the last of her song, ready for a Climax...

Densetsu ni shirusō isshun kara towa made
Kakugo wa egao to tomo ni kokoro no mama ni
Hokori to chigire

"Heh." The woman with the aviators stabilizes herself with her Gear's rockets, keeping barely up with things as Elisa prepares her whip to strike. "Guess you do have some guts. But I don't bluff." Her panels open up again, the spears glinting in the sunlight as they aim for the train car in front. "You're not ready for fighting a real war, Eli-"

pwyaaaaa

For a split second, a beam of light crosses the battlefield.

Maxine stumbles back in mid-air as her aviators are cracked and shattered, a lethal ray of light barely missing her head. An impossible shot on a target moving three hundred kilometres an hour...

As Maxine crashes into the train, she lifts her hand, and from her forearm a rocket and a winch line fly into the air, Dana doing the same. Elisa and Maria try to move to stop them, but before they can, they're winched into the air, above into a supersonic recovery craft toward parts unknown...

and the train starts to slow, evidently whatever caused it to keep moving having been solved. Both Elisa and Maria breathe sighs of relief, as helicopter blades can be heard in the distance, rescue aircraft no doubt including recovery for the two battered wielders.

That could certainly have gone better, both of them think, their thoughts very briefly in sync.

---

An hour later, the battered and injured passengers are being treated by NATO medics, helicopters being loaded with those able to travel. Despite the battle atop the train and the threat posed to them, there were no fatalities - even the luggage is intact.

"No one got killed, huh..." Elisa sighs as she clings to her blanket. She's still shaking from the battle, and Maxine's words are still rattling her... "I don't think they're going to want to travel again anytime soon, though."

"God gave us just one life to live," says Maria, back in her disguise and huddled in a blanket of her own. "Ruined vacation plans and delayed business meetings are a fine price to pay in return." (Though even Maria admits a breakup like Elisa had is a bit much.)

"...God?" Elisa asks, after a moment. "Do you believe in God?"

"I don't know if I do or not," Maria admits. "I want to believe there's someone watching over us, though. Even if the Custodians left the planet behind, maybe there's still someone who cares about humanity..."

"Heh. If it's me, I'm fine if it's just Maria-sama," Elisa quips.

"Maria-sama..." Maria whispers under her breath, and looks away, pouting. "You're incorrigible. We nearly died, hundreds of people nearly got killed too, and you've still got time to flirt?"

"It's stress relief, yeah? Cut me some slack, this is my first day on the job."

Maria would like to complain. Her new partner is boorish, reckless, sentimental, inexperienced, and altogether a mess of a person who isn't equipped to fight in this new war between Symphogears. She can't expect to simply coast through this like she's coasted through the rest of life. Elisa needs to understand how precious this gift of living is, let alone the relic she has.

And yet...

Even if it wasn't a bluff after all, calling Maxine like that, striking her when she's vulnerable with a surprise attack, the way she improvised and didn't let Maxine get to her...

Maria thinks, maybe Elisa isn't all bad after all.

(Meanwhile, aboard the supersonic recovery aircraft, completely unmarked, Maxine inspects her cracked aviators with disgust. Those were her favorite pair!)

(...and then Dana, wearing comfortable-looking flannel and big round glasses, strides right up and slaps Maxine in the face before walking off in disgust.)

("...heh." Maxine rubs her cheek where Dana hit her, before putting on a new, identical pair of aviators from her pocket.)

"There is just one thing that bothers me, though," says Elisa.

Maria nods. "It's that beam, right?"

"None of the Japanese wielders have that kind of ability. Even Ichaival can't make a shot like that."

"It could be the Bavarian Illuminati, or another alchemist group. We know they've been working with the Sakurai Theory."

"That's pretty likely, but for some reason, it still bothers me..."

At the same time, somewhere on the streets of Berlin, the turquoise twintailed waitress from the TV Tower is wandering down the street after her shift, and passes by a cafe with someone reading a newspaper facing the road. The waitress casually lowers the newspaper, seeing a frowning face - a short, black-haired woman with a beret and glasses, dressed up in a lolita ensemble.

"Haven't you ever heard of saying hello, Cagliostro?" the short woman asks.

"Hundreds of years, and you're still determined to have no fun at all, Prelati," 'Cagliostro' jokes. "As for me, I came across America's top idol and her new bodyguard today."

"Annoying as ever. What I wouldn't give for my atelier back..." 'Prelati' grumbles, and reaches for the frog plush she's given its own seat, holding it closely. "So, you're stalking celebrities, now? Is that just your hobby when you're in Berlin?"

"Just a coincidence. As much as anything is, anyway." The waitress brazenly hops over the patio fence and sits down next to her friend. "I'm sure you've heard about the train?"

"Naturally. I told Saint-Germain that the Faust Robe wasn't stable yet -"

"It wasn't her."

"Excuse me?"

"It wasn't her!" Cagliostro giggles and plays with her hair, leaning forward on the table. "Even Saint-Germain couldn't make a shot like that alone. And it wasn't our former comrades in the Illuminati either. No, I'm afraid that someone else is operating new Symphogears besides our 'night of fire' friends..."

In the Tokyo Bay, the Nymphaeaceae surfaces, and Section Two's wielders climb out onto the deck, looking out toward Tokyo. In the distance, they can see all the way out to Mount Fuji, and a rainbow once more frames their view.

"It's beautiful!" Hibiki yells, laughing and rushing forward toward the railing as Chris and Tsubasa follow. "It's another rainbow, Miku, look!"

Miku smiles to herself, glad that she's reunited with her very best friend and their smiles are restored. Soon, they'll hold a measure of their everyday peace at the new Lydian academy, and Miku will be able to run by Hibiki's side at last.

But she knows that many enemies await them. If she wants to achieve humanity's mutual understanding at last, then she'll have to battle the forces that want to use the power of the Symphogear for war - some of whom, it seems, reside within Japan itself.

The rainbow is just the start...

And unbeknownst to Elisa and Maria on the ground, far above the skies of Europe, a Kawasaki C-2 starts flying back toward Japan, its mission completed.

"You missed your shot," says an ancient-looking man on a static-filled communication screen - Kazanari Fudo, the head of Japan's Kazanari Agency. "Explain yourself."

"I only had so much time to make it," a figure sitting in shadow says. "If I took any longer, the train would have been attacked. With the delays in our timetable, we're lucky I got the chance to shoot at all."

"I expect you not to hesitate the next time. Proper reprimands will be issued to those who caused the delay."

"Don't worry," the figure says, as she rolls herself closer to the screen in her wheelchair - a young black-haired Japanese woman in a school uniform. A pink pendant rests on her chest: a Symphogear pendant, one unknown to both Section Two and the FIS. "As the first member of the Genshitsu(幻肢痛), I, Togo Mimori, will do whatever it takes to secure the defense of our nation."

From the Kazanari Agency, two phantoms were born.

Song of the Successors
Symphogear F
"An ancient relic and a melody to save the world!"

---

The year is 2043. Neo-Tokyo is about to explode! At the new Lydian Academy, the girls of Section Two recover their everyday lives, but when a Noise attack threatens the city, can Miku maintain her resolve to run by Hibiki's side -
That won't be necessary.
Wait, what? Uh, have we met? You're not with Section Two -
Wouldn't you like to know, Elisa Diana Metea.
I think you have the wrong show -
Do you value your everyday life, the peaceful moments you have now?
Uh...
Stay away from Tachibana Hibiki. This is your only warning.
Hey, wait - ugh, never mind, she's already gone. Well, next time, on Symphogear F: The Fists That Smite Evil! Just don't reset this loop, please, things are going so well for me...